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773,000Get Into Rugby participants in 2016 were femaleThey will end a 15-year absence from the showpiece event in 2017 with Asia also to be represented by tournament debutants Hong Kong.In Oceania, female participation in Get Into Rugby has grown more than tenfold since 2013 when just 2,670 girls were involved. In 2016 that number has risen to 31,100 with Fiji and Papua New Guinea contributing two-thirds, steady progress being made in Tonga and Samoa and noticeable growth – from almost nothing – in Niue, the Solomon Islands and Nauru. At the elite level, Australia and New Zealand led the way on the global sevens stage as Olympic gold and silver medallists, while Fijiana’s rapid growth to world series and Olympic participation has been the single biggest national growth success story.In Europe, England and France shared the spoils at the game’s elite level, France winning the Six Nations and England performing best in sevens, while Spain has once again emerged as a genuine contender in both, first qualifying for the Olympic Games through the repechage and then beating Scotland home and away to clinch a place at WRWC 2017.This year also saw the formation of the World Rugby Women’s Advisory Committee, chaired by Australian Rugby Union Chief Executive Bill Pulver and comprising Rachael Burford (England), Emilie Bydwell (USA) and Wang Shao Ing (Singapore). They met for the first time in Argentina in September and have two clear objectives, to formulate a new Women’s Plan and to provide oversight of its implementation.ABOVE LEFTJapan secured qualification for WRWC 2017ABOVE RIGHTRugby Americas North had 46 per cent female participation in Get Into Rugby activities in 2016NEW GLOBAL LEADERSHIPThe women’s game received a further boost in 2016 when Katie Sadleir was appointed as World Rugby’s first General Manager for Women’s Rugby, starting the role on 1 November.Sadleir heads up the development of the women’s game, aiming to increase already impressive participation numbers, and will have input into the women’s high performance strategy.She brings a wealth of experience in both elite sports participation and sporting governance. As an athlete Sadleir represented New Zealand at the 1984 Olympic Games and won a medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in synchronised swimming. Later, as the GM Sport she was involved in all aspects of participation and performance levels and was accountable for the transformation of New Zealand’s High Performance System in 1999. From 2009-15 she held directorships with both Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand. Prior to joining World Rugby she also served as director with the International Association of Elite Sport Training Centres, was a board member of New Zealand Swimming and a New Zealand Olympic Athletes’ Commission committee member. YEAR IN REVIEW 2016 WORLD RUGBY 57WOMEN’S RUGBY | PARTICIPATE